


A Picture Says A Thousand Words

by The_Wonderful_Jinx



Category: The Black Tapes Podcast
Genre: Angst, Blackmail, Death Threats, F/M, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:48:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6050448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wonderful_Jinx/pseuds/The_Wonderful_Jinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's used to death threats.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Picture Says A Thousand Words

**Author's Note:**

> Repost of a [tumblr fic](http://the-wonderful-jinx.tumblr.com/post/138581461074/a-picture-says-a-thousand-words)

He’s used to death threats by now.

At first, the “threats” were just mere annoyances. Flies to be swatted away. They sent him a list names on a piece of nondescript printer paper, detailing past colleagues, roommates, and the professors that wrote him letters of recommendations . They said that if he kept at the tapes, they’d hurt these people. He just laughed, most of the people on the list he lost touch with years ago. Most of them probably forgot about him or were dead.

The second threat came in  a manila folder. In it were four pictures: Charlie having coffee and reading the paper at an unknown cafe, Melissa and her husband at the park walking their new dog, Ruby and her band playing at a bar, Jenna and her husband having dinner. All of their faces were circled in red ink and on the back of each photo read “We’re watching them”. He called Mel, Ruby, and Jenna, showed them the photos and told them to be careful. (He emailed Charlie and warned her too, but she never responded.) He wanted to stop working on the show right then and there, but they convinced him otherwise.

“Photos don’t scare us. And we’ve dealt with worse before.” they said bravely, heads up with a fire in their eyes that he both admired and feared.

And then comes the third threat. When he returns to his office in Chicago to sort out some paper work, he arrives to find Mel, Ruby, and the other assistants standing outside the building. Fear, true, genuine horror, is etched into their eyes and pallid complexions. They lead him silently to his office, like a funeral procession, and wait for him to open the door.

Not one, not ten, not even a hundred, but _thousands_ of pictures are pasted, taped, tacked, and nailed to every surface of his office that can be reached. And all of them have the same woman. _Her_. They are all candid, she’s smiling in every single one of them except for the thee dead center on his desk.

It’s dark, but he can tell its _her_ because the camera uses some sort of night vision lens or setting to capture the form of Alex Reagan, sleeping and unaware of the intruder. The second photo shows a stranger’s hand moving the blanket up to cover her bare arms. The third shows the the same hand holding a knife, pointing towards the sleeping woman.

First, he sees red. Then he sees black. When he wakes up, he finds himself lying on the cool tile floor of the restroom with his assistants tending to him, placing wet towels on his forehead and another calling for his doctor. Mel says he was screaming until his throat went dry. Ruby says he tried to storm out of the building, howling and claiming he would “kill every single bastard that tried to put their hands on Alex." The assistants corroborate both claims with one of their own, stating that it took all of them (ten into total, including Mel and Ruby) to restrain him and drag him to the bathroom, where they locked him in until he passed out.

“What are you going to do Richard?” they all ask him.

“I’m going to stop the show in anyway I can.” he responds.

Deep in his gut, he knows it’s a fools promise. He knows that Alex won’t stop searching no matter how deep he digs his feet to slow her progress. But he has to do it.

 _'I should be used to death threats now_ ,' he thinks as he takes down the photos and puts them through a shredder.

With every photo he destroys, a piece of his pride -what kept him going with the show- goes with it. When all them of them are gone, all that remains is an empty office and a terrified man. For the first in a long time, he prays to God. 

_‘Don’t let them hurt my daughter. Don’t let them hurt my friends. And God almighty please don’t let them hurt Alex.’_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If there are any errors or ooc-ness, please let me know!


End file.
